Monthly Archives: July 2016

The $100 Startup: Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love, and Create a New Future

The problem with many books about business is that they just talk in generalities and motivational sound bites. You sit and read them and feel very positive at the time, but they really give you nothing concrete to help you go out and create and build your own business.

What we like most about this book by Chris Guillebeau is that it gives you so many practical examples of real life success stories. The author has taken an unconventional path. He has never had what he describes as a “real job,” but has achieved what few have rarely done – visited 175 countries and created an income to sustain the lifestyle that he desires.

He interviewed successful entrepreneurs who had all used $100 or less to start their business. Lack of funds is often seen as a barrier to anyone starting their own business, but this book dispels the myth that you need large amounts of money to start your journey as an entrepreneur.

A lot of books about business are so generic and vague it is difficult to glean anything of value from them. “The $100 Startup” is the exact opposite of this. Chris Guillebeau wants to give his readers specific details of how others became successful in order to help the reader learn from their experience.

How to Win Friends and Influence People

We thought for a long time about whether or not to include the classic “How to Win Friends and Influence People” on this list. It is such an obvious choice and we wanted to give readers something different to think about. However, we decided we really couldn’t leave this out.

It is a classic for a reason. It is one of the best books for entrepreneurs ever written. It may have been first published in 1937 (and has undergone a number of revisions), but it is still very relevant now. It has sold over 100 million copies and helped countless people on their road to success.

The book actually delivers on its promise. It is essentially an examination of how human relationships can be studied and we can all learn how to build better connections with people. This is one of the most essential lessons that any entrepreneur can learn.

The world of business has changed a great deal since the book was written, but the fundamental ideas still hold true. There is also an updated version for the present day “How to Win Friends and Influence People in the Digital Age”. This is a revised edition which relates the original ideas to the present day and makes it relevant to the age of the internet and social media.

The Innovator’s Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail (Management of Innovation and Change)

This is another classic book which is recommended for anyone wanting to make a success of their own business. Clayton M. Christenson examines the question of why companies do not keep up with the latest technology, and how this causes their ultimate downfall. Even the most successful companies have become victims of this concept of disruptive innovation

“The Innovator’s Dilemma” has been cited by some of the most successful business people in the world, including Steve Jobs and Jeff Bezos.